1). Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a transaction processing system.
2). Discussion of Related Art
A customer who visits a store usually uses a point-of-sale instrument such as a bank card or a credit card to pay for an item or items that are being purchased. In an in store scenario, the customer may for example purchase goods that are provided to the customer. Electronic transactions can be conducted in a similar manner. In the case of electronic transactions, the user can enter details of a point-of-sale instrument into an interface.
It has become more common to purchase goods, services and credits using devices other than a point-of-sale instrument. Certain systems for example allow for a consumer to have a transaction charged to their phone bill.
The challenge that exists with using systems that do not have a point-of-sale instrument is that they typically require a network connection to allow for the charge to be processed. Such a network connection may be unavailable or may be cumbersome to maintain and operate. For example, arcade games typically do not have any network connections to a merchant to process a charge. Instead, the only way to start a game on an arcade game would be to enter cash into the arcade game.